Tag Archives: cardio

Cardio time

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Last year I wanted to do one Max VO2 training session a week, but I really did it only every 2-3 weeks. This year I’m committed. My activity of choice right now is 8 one-minute sprint intervals. My interval timer is actually set to 1:15 high intensity followed by 1:10 low intensity. The reason for the additional time is that it takes about 13 seconds to get the treadmill from my low intensity walk, at a 3.4 pace, to my high intensity pace starting at 8.6 and progressing to 9.4 on the final one (I skip 8.7 for those that are math inclined).

I thought I’d share the stats from my watch for the last 3 runs, and then I can see how I compare closer to the end of the year.

January 11, 2025

January 14, 2025

January 20, 2025

I’m actually not trending well, with my average and overall heart rate going up, but fluctuations are to be expected and that’s why I decided to share the last 3. There are two big challenges ahead. The one I have control over is dedicating to doing this at least once a week. The one I have less control over is seeing how quickly I can get my heart rate to recover and if I can decrease my overall peak heart rate doing the same activity… this challenge should be achieved just from the commitment to do this weekly.

Time will tell, and the data doesn’t lie.

Norwegian Protocol

I’m procrastinating. I should have got on the treadmill a couple hours ago, but I’m wasting time and avoiding it. Sundays have become my Norwegian Protocol days: 4-minutes running at the maximum speed that I can maintain for the full 4-minutes, followed by 3 minutes at a very slow walk to recover. It takes me 32 minutes because I start with a 4-minute warm up.

This is one of the best ways to improve Max VO₂, which is the maximum amount of oxygen that your body can absorb during exercise. This is a measure of aerobic fitness and has one of the highest correlations with health-span, meaning maintaining good health at an order age.

This is my tenth Sunday in a row that I am doing this. And today it’s messing with my mind. I know it’s only 16 minutes at my maximum speed. I know I’ll feel great when I’ve finished. But the idea right now of willingly stepping on that treadmill knowing that I’m gonna put myself through this is something I’m suffering with right now.

I need to get past this mind game I’m playing with myself. The reality is that when I played water polo almost every workout was harder than this. I am a crappy, inefficient swimmer, and I trained at a pretty high-level. What that means is every workout I was the last person in my lane; the last person to finish a swim set; and, I worked as hard or harder than anyone else in the pool. I know how to push my body hard… that’s what I have to remind myself as I get older.

Because I’m not on a team anymore, I’m not training with a group of people who I don’t want to let down. It’s just me. Me and this once a week push for a measly 16 minutes broken into 4 sets. This is my reminder that I know how to push, how to mentally psych myself up to do something hard.

However, right now I’m kicking myself for doing a quad and glute workout yesterday. My hip flexors are sore and I don’t want to get on that treadmill… and yet I will, so this procrastination delay is just torturing myself for no reason. It’s time to rip the metaphorical bandaid off and get my butt on the treadmill.

Norwegian Protocol, here I come!

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*Update* – Protocol completed. First time that I’ve done all four sprints at 8.2MPH (7.31 Minute mile or 13.2KMH). But I’m not writing this update just to share that I pushed myself, I’m also sharing to make a point: I feel great now and the pain of procrastination wasn’t worth it! I gained nothing but mental anguish by delaying my workout.